Invincible
by Light1
Summary: Raziel makes a mistake and must deal with the consequences.
1. Chapter 1

**Invincible **

Disclaimer: Legacy of Kain belongs to Edios and Crystal Dynamics, not me. I am making £0.00 out of this fic, it is written purely because I have a burning need to create. Although I would like to own Vorador . . . then he'd be mine.

Rating: PG-13

Part: One of Three

* \/ * /\ * \/ * /\ *

He had been showing off, he knew it and he hadn't cared.

He was the eldest of the lieutenants, the strongest, the best and he had to admit he enjoyed reminding people. His skills came easily to him and he revelled in the power they brought, the strength he wielded. He enjoyed the looks of both admiration and fear by equal turns and celebrated the ease with which he caused them.

He was Raziel, firstborn of Kain and he would remind all those who sought to watch of his power and position.

The disparity between him and other vampires was something he was always aware of to an extent, but it was never quite so clear as it was on the field of battle. He charged through the mortal numbers like the wind through a field of wheat, effortless and calm.

He and his ilk had been tasked with taking a relatively small human settlement, one of the few remaining. Its location was of no great import, hence why it had been left, why it had been allowed to fortify itself while more valuable locals fell to them. He had expected the attack to be straightforward, they would suffer minor losses no doubt, there were always foolish and/or weak fledgelings in any brood. These little skirmishes were doing a fine job of strengthening his clan by weeding out those who were unworthy.

It was so mundane that the last thing he had expected was an audience.

But he had sensed his Sires presence early on in the evening before the attack had even begun. He had felt eyes on him and could not help the swell of pride that brought. He knew Kain enjoyed watching him. So, with that in mind, he decided he would give his sire something to look at.

He'd led the charge.

A full-frontal assault, a standard for the size and resources of the human settlement. It wasn't worth putting more strategic effort into taking it. The wall was high but not so high to be a problem for his older fledges, the gate was heavy but not so heavy to be a problem for his children and the battlements were armed but this was not a concern, for he and his were swift and agile. Let the human's land a blow if they could.

He'd pulled up short when his forces struck the main gate, the wood creaked but did not give. It would in time, and while the strongest took to tearing down the wooden barrier his more agile children set the clambering over the walls. He watched with pride, his clan was a wave of destruction to the mortal foe, unstoppable and unforgiving. He wondered briefly if this was how Kain felt about his children and their children, did he feel such pride?

The question reminded him that his sire was present and was watching, so he tensed to leap into the charge, he'd be first over the wall, the first to taste blood. But a sound stopped him, there was yelling behind him. Turning he spotted a regiment or mortal fighters coming out from what appeared to be tunnels. The crafty bastards had dug tunnels out of their home and were using them to get behind his clan.

"Clever," he smiled to himself. "But pointless."

He had not been the only one to notice the sudden enemy behind them and already his well-organized fledgelings were dividing their attention between the enemy at their back and the settlements fortifications. Heading down into the fight Raziel watched as a small branch of the mortal force broke off and headed for him. He grinned, baring teeth at the audacity of them.

It wasn't until he'd been made to take several steps backwards that he realized the mortal fighters were up to something. They were all armed with pikes, weapons with enough range to keep him out of arms reach, or more importantly out of swords reach. He couldn't land a blow, every time he aimed for one, the others would effectively put up a barricade of pikes. He couldn't harm them without putting some unwanted holes in himself. The defence was simple but effective, but he'd seen it before, he could get around it. Yet what gave him pause was when he left them an opening, a way to strike him, they didn't take it. He frowned and deliberately left himself open again, and again no strike landed, instead he was pressed into taking a step backwards, then another and another.

He flinched when his back hit the wall of the settlement. He wasn't sure what they were planning but something was wrong. Several of the men kept their pikes aimed at him to prevent an advance, while others lifted theirs upright to prevent a leap over them. They were very clever and for the first time in a long, long time Raziel felt concern. Not true fear but mild concern. He noticed the excitement in the men and finally realized what they were planning when three of them glanced up to the top of the wall.

On the rim perched a vat, no doubt full of water.

He'd watched as it started to fall, tumbling gracefully down, the droplets catching the moon and firelight, making them shine like falling stars. It was beautiful.

As he watched, it was as if time had slowed, he was able to see the individual droplets as they fell, getting closer to him where they would turn his pristine skin a horrid black. Yet he was unable to tear himself away. He knew it would burn him, kill him, but he was frozen in place, unable to even brace himself, hypnotized by the tumble and fall of the shining water.

The blow that struck him was unforgiving, it was like taking a battering ram to the chest. His brain careened inside his skull, making lights and shadow dance in his vision. His ears sang a high-pitched whine that blocked out everything else. He managed to remain conscious, and his awareness and focus slowly returned. He could feel something warm and wet at the back of his head, bringing his clawed hands up he touched it and they came away bloody. His head had cracked against the wall.

"Raziel," Kain's voice snapped him out of his distraction and he realized his Sire was barely an inch away from him.

With that realization, reality came flooding back with vengeance. The sound of the battle, the stink of the smoke in the air, the perfume of blood. He smiled foolishly, his brain still rattled.

"Hello, Kain," he said. The noticed the smell of burning flesh and under that the smell of Kain's blood. Panic seized him, brushing away the last of his daze he flinched when Kain sighed and turned, facing the remaining Pike men who had not been torn asunder by his Sire's earlier charge. Raziel watched as they fell to his father's talons, but it was not the battle he watched.

The water had fallen; most of it uninterrupted on its journey to the ground, but not all of it. The entire left side of Kain's back had been caught in the blow. Raziel watched aghast at his skin, crusty black in places, melted away in others, revealing raw muscles beneath, Raziel felt bile rise in his throat when he caught a glimpse of pristine white spine. His legs went out from under him as he realized what his arrogance had cost him, what it had almost cost them. He could have died, Kain could have died.

By the time Kain had finished the remaining pikemen and turned Raziel had vomited twice, a combination of blind terror and revulsion.

"Get up," Kain said. Silently Raziel did so, bracing himself for whatever reprimand his father decided he warranted.

**End Chapter**

Authoress Note: Thank you for reading, please comment/review, I'd love to hear what you think.

For information on published works and upcoming projects, release dates, as well as weekly blogs, check out www . katiemariewriter . co . uk


	2. Chapter 2

**Invincible **

Disclaimer: Legacy of Kain belongs to Edios and Crystal Dynamics, not me. I am making £0.00 out of this fic; it is written purely because I have a burning need to create. Although I would like to own Vorador . . . then he'd be mine.

Rating: PG-13

Part: Two of Three

* \/ * /\ * \/ * /\ *

The reprimand didn't come. At least not immediately. Instead of harsh words, a clawed hand touched the back of his head near where it had split. Raziel watched, his vision still slightly blurred at the edges, as Kain pulled his hand back, tutted at the blood and absently popped his finger into his mouth cleaning it of Raziel's blood. Kain watched the battle for a long moment before turning back to his eldest.

"That was foolhardy," he said eventually. Raziel nodded slowly, still expecting a stronger rebuke. "You could have died."

"So, could you," Raziel managed, feeling the injury to his head close and his dizziness subside. Kain snorted at him.

"I am not so fragile," he muttered. Raziel bristled at the insinuation that there was an element of fragility about him. He was the strongest of the Clan Lords, there was nothing fragile about him. Kain watched him and a smirk spread across his face as if reading his eldest thoughts. Absently Raziel peered to the left, trying to get a look at his Sire's back. The smell was making him uncomfortable, a mixture of blood, burnt flesh and the intimately organic smell of an open wound. But there was something else underlying that, a smell of rot and decay.

"What are you doing?" Kain said turning, keeping his back out of view.

"Something's wrong," Raziel almost danced around his sire trying to get a better look at the injury, Kain turned, keeping the injury out of view.

"I should say so," Kain snapped. "When my eldest, and supposedly wisest, child takes mindless risks that even the most foolish fledgeling would not, yes I'd say something was wrong."

"That's not what I meant," Raziel grumbled still pursuing his sire. "Stay still." Kain did still but the slight waver in his stance made Raziel think that perhaps it was because the movement was causing him pain as opposed to stilling for Raziel's sake. Raziel manoeuvred to stand behind Kain. Something was wrong, Raziel had seen Kain injured before, he was not so foolish as to believe his Sire was above such. But he'd also seen Kain heal before and he did so fast, faster than any other Raziel had seen. But the wound on his back wasn't healed, it was vile.

"What the…" Raziel said before closing his mouth as bile rose in his throat. His father's back was worse close up. Open and raw, a hellish mixture of organic colour and scent. It bled freely and heavily but not enough to disguise the bone and puss revealed. It looked and smelled infected. Raziel frowned, vampires did not get infected, ever, let alone so quickly. Gently he reached out to touch the wound.

"Will you stop," Kain snapped turning quickly and batting Raziel's hand away. "Tell me," he said taking a defensive step back. "Is that what you do when someone admits injury, poke it?"

"It's wrong," Raziel said.

"It's bloody rude," Kain muttered. "Next time you crack your head I'll stick my fingers in and see what you have to say."

"No, I mean," Raziel stumbled over his words. "The wound it's full of puss and hot to the touch, it's infected." Kain frowned.

"It can't be infected," he said.

"Well, it is," Raziel grabbed his sire's shoulder and forced him to turn, concern overriding his sense not to poke a wounded creature. He winced at the wound. "It's not healing, it's getting bigger."

"What are you talking about," Kain said, his voice strained, partly from pain, partly from frustration at his eldest's poor explanation. A sound not unlike a yelp, if Kain were capable of such noises, escaped him when Raziel touched the wound again. "What did I just say!" Kain snapped.

"Here," Raziel offered his now gore covered fingers up to his sire, Kain turned his nose up at the yellowish substance on Raziel's fingers but sniffed. Raziel frowned when the strange substance began to burn his hands, he shook it off his fingers and watched the ground where it landed blacken. Eyebrows raising in alarm he glanced at his fingertips which were now starting to hurt.

"Putrescence," Kain said knowingly.

"Excuse you?" Raziel said rubbing his fingers on the ground. Kain leaned down and clawed up a handful of dirt and rubbed it over his eldest's fingers.

"Free yourself of it," he muttered.

"What is it?" Raziel asked.

"An old trick," Kain said as Raziel used the dirt to rub the substance from his skin. "Crafters used to create items that allowed those without magic to cast a certain number of spells by throwing said artefact at a foe."

"And this?" Raziel said, standing and once again reaching out for his Sire, Kain took a step away.

"It seems that the humans here found an old Font of Putrescence artefact," Kain muttered. "It causes rot and decay to spread, it's also contagious so stop trying to touch me," he struck Raziel's questing hand away.

"But you're hurt," Raziel felt foolish stating the obvious, but he had no idea what to do.

"It'll heal," Kain said. "Eventually."

"Eventually!" Raziel snapped.

"It must have been a very old artefact," Kain muttered looking up as the doors to the stronghold finally gave under the push of the Razielim. "I've not heard of one who knows the craft for centuries."

"You need to see a healer," Raziel said. "I have several."

"I'm not seeing a healer," Kain said firmly.

"You need to, what if it keeps spreading!" Raziel snapped.

"It's already stopped," Kain said after a quiet moment. "I said it's contagious, anyone touching it will be affected."

"But your back is melting!" Raziel snapped.

"Don't be so dramatic," Kain said. "It's not melting, fortunately, the item was old and not as potent as it once was."

"You're talking as if nothing is wrong," Raziel said his stomach rolling at the unpleasant smell still coming from his Sire's back.

"And you, I feel are focusing on this so as to avoid focusing on the fact that you almost killed yourself a moment ago," Kain said. Raziel went quiet for a moment, replaying the event in his mind.

"This is my fault," he lifted his hand again.

"If you try to touch me again, I'll cut your hand off," Kain muttered, it was not an empty threat.

"I did this," Raziel said. "I was foolhardy as you say, and you've been injured because of it."

"Your sudden talent for stating the obvious has me questioning the blow you took to your skull," Kain frowned. "You seem to have become annoyingly simple." He watched Raziel for a few moments, as Raziel watched his clan move into the stronghold, now that the door was down the fight was over, it was merely another massacre. That such a simple conquest had nearly been his end, had caused such an injury to his sire was shameful. "Come," Kain said snapping him out of his thoughts. "You can feel sorry for yourself just as well somewhere I can sit down without a gawking audience." Raziel blinked, just now noticing the eyes watching him. He snorted, Kain was a private creature, it was a rarity for any clan to lay eyes on him. Their standing together on the field of battle was something of a spectacle and he knew now why Kain did not want him fussing.

It's hard to be an untouchable God when your being fussed over.

"Very well my Lord," he dipped his head, raising an arm to one of his older fledgelings Raziel signalled his departure. He had no need to worry, his clan would be fine without him for a few hours.

"You realize," he said catching up to his retreating Sire. "That you have not shouted at me yet?"

"I had noticed yes," Kain said. "Maybe later."

**End Chapter**

Authoress Note: Thank you for reading, please comment/review, I'd love to hear what you think.

For information on published works and upcoming projects, release dates, as well as weekly blogs, check out www . katiemariewriter . co . uk


	3. Chapter 3

**Invincible **

Disclaimer: Legacy of Kain belongs to Edios and Crystal Dynamics, not me. I am making £0.00 out of this fic; it is written purely because I have a burning need to create. Although I would like to own Vorador . . . then he'd be mine.

Rating: PG-13

Part: Three of Three

* \/ * /\ * \/ * /\ *

The evening light was almost blinding.

Raziel grumbled, raising his hand to shield his eyes as he entered the surprisingly small bedchamber that Kain preferred. He cursed whoever had closed the drapes leaving a gap wide enough for a shaft of light to fall across the bed. He knew it was foolish to be so irritated, Kain had long since been invulnerable to the Nosgoth sun, but the carelessness had him snarling. He stalked to the drapes and snapped them closed with a sharp pull.

The entire room fell into shadow and Raziel let out a slow breath, listening to the quiet sound of his sire sleeping. He had always savoured moments like this, brief and all too far apart moments when he could feel like a fledgeling again, remembering a time before his brothers, before the conquest, when he had been a true infant and had been alone with Kain. There had been no distance between them, it had been surprisingly relaxed as they learned together what it meant to be a sire and a fledgeling. It had been infinitely pleasing for him, even at such a young age, to have a creature like his sire be so focused on him. It had been difficult adapting to brothers who had taken Kain's time and attention away from him. Even more difficult to adapt to the conquest of Nosgoth which took nearly all Kain's focus. Until he realized that he could divert that focus back to himself by exceeding his father's expectations both with the conquest and his brothers.

"Ever the demanding infant," he muttered to himself, before turning and facing the bed.

Kain was lying on his front unsurprisingly, and while his back was still difficult to look at it was no longer such a horror show as it had when they had returned. Raziel had quickly noticed that the moment they were away from prying eyes Kain's gait had changed, his forced relaxed posture had tensed considerably, his breathing had stopped being slow and regular and had become short and sharp. His movements tentative and careful. Kain hadn't spoken much, instead, he retreated to the bedchamber and Raziel had been left alone with his anxious guilt.

It was difficult to accept that this had happened because of his foolishness, his desire to be better, to be seen as deserving of attention and admiration, it had caused this. He stepped closer to the bed until he was standing alongside it and reaching out placed a gentle hand on Kain's back, the skin was abnormally warm and the muscle beneath twitched in response. The skin felt thin, crinkled and dry under his hand.

"What did I say about poking," Kain muttered, his voice muffled slightly from sleep. Raziel flinched, his hand snapping away.

"I brought food," Raziel gestured to a pitcher that he'd brought in during the afternoon when he'd been desperate for a distraction, desperate to do something to help. Kain sighed and yawned, displaying elegant and deadly dentistry.

"Stop it," Kain muttered, but rose up slightly, leaning on his elbows for a moment, he held out a hand for the pitcher. Raziel scrambled to pass it quickly, spilling a little as he did. Kain snorted at him and shook his head, before refusing the goblet that Raziel also offered and drinking straight from the large jug. Raziel waited uncomfortably for a long moment while Kain drained the pitcher.

"Hungry?" he forced a smirk when Kain dropped the pitcher to the floor and lay back down.

"Obviously," Kain said, Raziel swallowed, of course, Kain was hungry, healing an injury so grave would take a lot of power. "Stop sulking," Kain grumbled after a moment of silence, moving a little and tensing his shoulders while trying to hide how much it hurt him to do so.

"But…" Raziel started.

"I'm fine, Raziel," he muttered.

"You could have died, and it would have been my fault," Raziel said slowly, very aware of how pathetic he must have sounded. Kain looked at him seriously for a moment as if considering something.

"If I had to die, there are worse ways I can think of," Kain spoke softly. "Do not take that as an invitation or an endorsement of such foolishness. Should I catch you doing something so reckless again I will skin you alive."

"You always say that," Raziel muttered, finally sitting on the bed.

"Obviously it bears repeating," Kain muttered, Raziel watched him as he stretched under the thin sheet, wincing when it pulled at the newly healing skin on his back. "Bloody stop it." Kain snapped.

"Stop what?" Raziel said.

"Looking so pathetic, sulking, I'm not sure what you're doing, but it's irritating. I'm not dying Raziel so stop acting like I am." Kain huffed and glared at his eldest for a long moment.

"You're not angry?" Raziel mumbled, eyes downcast.

"Should I be?" Kain shrugged and winced again at the action. When Raziel said nothing he signed, reaching up, and placing a claw beneath his fledgeling's chin, he lifted him so amber eyes met his own.

"It would make me feel better," Raziel muttered.

"I don't care," Kain said.

"Why aren't you angry!" Raziel snapped, suddenly irritated as how benign Kain's reaction to the situation was. Kain, who was famous for his short temper should not be so unmoved by such an injury, especially when the cause of it was utter foolishness on Raziel's part.

"Because I'm relieved," Kain said.

"Relieved?" Raziel said.

"Yes," Kain nodded. Raziel, so lost in his thoughts didn't feel the mattress dip as Kain moved, sitting up despite the pain.

"How can you be relieved?" Raziel said.

"Because I didn't have to bring you home in a bucket," Kain said, stretching again. "God damn this itches," he muttered.

"Don't scratch it," Raziel said softly. Kain snorted and scratched anyway, instantly regretting it when the still healing skin let out a wave of sharp pain. "Told you."

"Don't be a smartass," Kain muttered standing and walking a slow circuit around the room, testing the muscles in his back. Apparently satisfied he sat down again and glared at his eldest.

"It will take more than you to kill me," Kain said, but there was something in his expression that told Raziel he didn't quite believe what he was saying.

"I would certainly hope so," Raziel said.

**End Fic**

Authoress Note: Thank you for reading, please comment/review, I'd love to hear what you think.

For information on published works and upcoming projects, release dates, as well as weekly blogs, check out www . katiemariewriter . co . uk


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